


I say I hate your voice (But I miss when you don't sing.)

by Dansnotavampire



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nightmares, Pre-Slash, Sickfic, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22979116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dansnotavampire/pseuds/Dansnotavampire
Summary: Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir EddahatesVon Raum's singing.At least, until it stops.
Relationships: Lyfrassir Edda/Marius von Raum
Comments: 18
Kudos: 206





	I say I hate your voice (But I miss when you don't sing.)

Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda  _ hates _ Marius' singing. They don't hate the man himself, you must understand, but if they have to hear another whiskey and gasoline laced note come from his mouth, they might scream. 

This is true - or at least, they think it is, until Marius stops singing. 

Lyf first noticed it at breakfast - which was honestly the last thing that they had expected the band of murdering space pirates to agree to do as a team (“As A Family!” according to the Toy Soldier.) Normally, you could tell when food was being cooked by the sound of a certain irritating ‘doctor’ belting his lungs out as he scrambled eggs (or things that looked like eggs) and fried bacon (or something that smelled like bacon), occasionally interrupted by a yell of “When will you learn that they can’t eat teeth!” 

(The Toy Soldier already knows that people can't eat teeth, but it doesn't know what else to do with the bag full of them that it found! It just wants to be involved, Marius, honestly.) 

This morning - this  _ fucking  _ morning - however, there is no half-hungover rendition of tales to be told, no teatime warsongs, no uncanny imitations of Thor’s righteous rage (though, truth be told, those haven’t happened for a while; not since Lyf had told one of them - was it Ivy? - that the memories they brought back were far too painful to bear.) Lyf walks into the kitchen, curious about the lack of noise (and not worried, not at all worried) only to see the Toy Soldier stood mournfully at the stove, poking at the bottom of a saucepan with a wooden spoon. (A saucepan which, for the record, is empty. The heat isn't even on.) 

"Uhh… where's Von Raum?" Lyf asks. It's not that they're concerned, they just… want to know where he is. So - so he can irritate him later. Or so he can avoid him. That's all. 

Completely oblivious to the frankly impressive amount of repression that Lyf is doing, the Toy Soldier replies, sadly - despite the wide, wide smile on its face - "He's In The Sickbay! He's Very Ill. I Miss Him - He Laughs With Me When I Try And Make Tea With Teeth!" 

(Lyf is fairly certain that most of the laughing happens  _ at  _ the Soldier, and is in fact yelling, but he decides to let it have its fun. It's hardly like it's doing any actual damage.) 

"The - the sickbay? I thought you guys were immortal?" He's confused, curious about their immortality - not worried. Not at all worried. 

"We Are! But That Does Not Mean That We Cannot Be Very Sick!" 

_ Shit.  _ Lyf turns on his heel, and marches towards the sickbay. 

They might be a little worried. 

\--- 

Marius looks  _ horrible.  _ He's curled up in a bed in the sickbay, practically cocooned in blankets, a tuft of curly black hair sticking out. Lyf can just about see his eyes and nose, but the skin surrounding them is deathly pale and sweat-slick. 

"Fuck me, Von Raum, what happened to you?" Lyf expects to get a quip in reply, at least a 'sorry, you're not my type,' but all that they hear is a tired groan. There's not another mech around in the room, and no signs that anyone has been actually trying to take care of Von Raum - a fact that is both surprising, given the abundance of scientists on the ship who would be  _ delighted  _ to learn about the kind of illness that can put a Mechanism down, and not, given the fact that it might be contagious. Lyf probably shouldn't be in the room, but they've got a decent immune system, and… well, someone has to take care of the sick space pirate. 

"Do you drink tea? I'm gonna make you some tea." Marius once again only grumbles in response, which Lyf decides to take as an encouragement. The worst that can happen is that Von Raum doesn't drink it, after all. 

Fifteen minutes, three teabags, and one broken mug later, Lyf has a cup of tea. "Sorry it took so long," they say as they hand it to Marius. "There was an octokitten in the cupboard. I jumped." Lyf has no idea why they tell Marius this, but the half-snort of a laugh that the other gives might be a good enough reason. Marius reaches his arm out from the blanket, grasping for the inspector and the cup of tea. "Nope," Lyf says. "You have to sit up if you want tea, I am _not_ letting you scald yourself."

Marius extricates his other arm from the blanket cocoon, and pushes himself upright, reaching out to take the tea. Lyf squishes themself next to him on the bed, completely ignoring Marius' quizzically raised eyebrow, and the goosebumps on their arm where their elbows brush together. "So what's wrong with you?" they ask. "Not like you to be this quiet."

Marius grabs a notepad and pen off of the bedside table, and scrawls something down.  _ Raph called it souped-up tonsillitis,  _ it reads. _ I can't speak, at least not without a lot of pain. _

Lyf's eyes write up as he reads. "That means you can't sing, right?" 

Marius throws the pen at his head, but it doesn't stop Lyf from laughing. 

\---

Half an hour later, after Lyf has retrieved the pen from where it went skittering under a table, and faux-reluctantly acquired another two cups of tea, Marius chucks a ball of paper at his head. Lyf shoots a  _ look  _ back at him, one filled with an equal mix of disdain and wry amusement, and uncrumples the paper. 

_ You know that tonsillitis is contagious, right? You should probably leave. I can’t make you fetch tea for me if we’re both sick.  _

Lyf huffs a laugh. “I’m fairly certain that I'll have already been exposed to it by now, I’ve been in here so long. And I can’t get you tea if I leave, either.” 

The scratching of a pen, and another ball of paper hits them in the head, a few seconds later.  _ Don’t blame me if you get sick, then, Inspector. I will  _ not  _ show you any sympathy.  _

Lyf scowls at Marius. He pokes his tongue out at them, and they flip him the bird in return. They manage to hold their glowers for only seconds before they collapse into a flurry of giggles. Marius’ quickly dissolve into a painful, hacking cough, and Lyf immediately dashes off to make another cup of tea, and to grab a jar of something that Looks and Tastes like honey - though on this ship, you can never really be sure. 

Marius grabs the tea, cradling it against his chest, and taking small sips. “You good?” Lyf asks, and Marius shrugs, trying to convey  _ My throat hurts so much I can’t even sing to annoy you, what do you think?  _ with just a look. Judging by the apologetic half-grimace that Lyf gives him in return, he succeeded. After his coughing fit fades to a standstill, Marius scrawls out a note in shaky handwriting.  _ I’m going to sleep. Don’t wait up for me.  _

Lyf, of course, ignores this request, telling themself that they’ll stay sat in the chair, just for the next ten minutes, to make sure that Marius actually gets to sleep. 

But ten minutes become twenty, to make sure that he  _ stays  _ asleep, and twenty minutes becomes half an hour, to make sure that he doesn’t get any nightmares, or wake up coughing again, and half an hour turns into Lyf, dozing off, his hand stretched out on the bed, his fingers mere centimetres away from Marius’. 

(Nastya comes in at some point, looking for Marius’ rosin, but she stops halfway through her first word at the sight of the two of them asleep. Before she turns on her heel to leave and search through the doctor’s room, she gets the Aurora to take a photo - it’s cute, and it’ll be good blackmail material. Mostly, it’s because it’s cute.)

\-- 

Marius ends up being the one to wake up first, which would be surprising if not for the ever-present circles under Lyf's eyes. He studies their face as they sleep, eyes following their cheekbones, the way their dark eyelashes flutter as they dream, the relaxed shape of their mouth. It's the most relaxed that Marius has ever seen him; normally, Lyf is scowling, or glaring, or - rarely - fondly-but-exasperatedly rolling his eyes at one of the mechs jokes. He's never _still_ , he never _rests_ , Marius has never seen him sit still for more than half an hour. He always paces, and barely sleeps. 

Which is why, when the nightmare starts, Marius almost -  _ almost  _ \- doesn't wake them up. Only when the first faintly iridescent tear glides down Lyf's face does he reach out his hand - the flesh one - to grasp them on the shoulder, pushing past the pain in his throat to quietly croak, "Lyf, wake up. You're having a nightmare, I need you to wake up." 

Lyf's eyelids flicker, but other than that he doesn't stir. Marius shakes their shoulder, saying again, "Lyf, please." 

Eventually, their eyes open, a brilliant rainbow flashing through them in the now-dark room. "Von Raum?" they mutter, still half-asleep and afraid, "Marius, what's happening?" 

"You had-" Marius pauses to take a gulp from his now-cold tea. "You were having a nightmare. Awful to watch, really, it made a terrible show." He knows his poor attempt at bravado isn't working, the concern in his eyes and the pain in his voice weakening it, but Lyf's mouth quirks at the corner into a wry half-smile that makes his heart flutter. 

"Oh," Lyf says. "Thanks for waking me up. I- I don't remember the nightmare, but… it can't have been nice." 

_ You were crying _ , Marius doesn't tell them. Instead, he reaches for his notepad, and scrawls down  _ Is it easier if you're sleeping next to someone? That's what Jonny and Nastya used to do.  _

He hands Lyf the message this time, instead of throwing it, and they just… blink at it. 

Marius writes another.  _ I'm offering to share, if that wasn't obvious. If it'll help you sleep.  _

The corner of Lyf's mouth quirks up some more. "Sure - if, if that's okay with you." 

Marius shifts to the side of the bed, making space for them.  _ I wouldn't offer it to you if it wasn't, would I?  _ he writes. 

Lyf crawls into the bed, curling into Marius' neck, close enough to hear his pulse skip a beat. 

Lyf is sure that his own heart is doing the same fluttering dance, but it's fine. They can talk about it in the morning. 

(They do, and when they leave they leave the sickbay three days later hand in hand, Jonny reluctantly hands Ivy a stack of gold coins. Lyf pretends not to notice.

Everyone else does _not_ extend the same courtesy, however, when Lyf's face breaks into a brilliant smile the next time they hear Marius sing. The teasing lasts for _weeks._

They wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.)

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally gonna go somewhere else, but I forgot where. Have at it!


End file.
